Spermacoce remota Lam.

Lamarck, J.B.A.P. de Monnet de in Lamarck, J.B.A.P. de Monnet de & Poiret, J.L.M. (1791) Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique 1(1): 273. Type: E Domingo, I. Martin; holo: P-LA.

Erect or spreading perennial herb up to 50 cm tall. Stems quadrangular with scabrid hairs on the ridges.

Leaf blades 50-70 x 15-23 mm, petioles short and hairy. Lateral veins 5-6 on each side of the midrib. Upper surface of leaf blade glabrous, lower surface with a few hairs along the veins. Stipules interpetiolar, hairy, margins toothed (about 7 teeth or pegs). Teeth (or pegs) about 2-4 mm long.

Flowers borne in dense axillary fascicles. Individual flowers about 5 mm diam. Calyx lobes 0.5-1 mm long, clothed in hairs. Corolla tube about 2.5 mm long, lobes 2-2.5 mm long, clothed in hairs only on the outer surface near the apex. Anthers ca. 1 mm long. Filaments 1-1.5 mm long attached to the corolla tube. Ovary green ca. 3 x 1.5 mm, upper half hairy. Style glabrous.

Capsule with hairs in the upper half. Seeds yellowish brown to dark brown, elliptic, 2 x 0.8 mm, testa surface distinctly rugose and faintly reticulate.

Features not available.

An introduced species in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards to south east Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 900 m. Grows in disturbed areas and along tracks and roads through rainforest, Eucalypt forest, riparian forest and Melaleuca forest. Also from most Pantropical countries.

Pantropical weed. Harwood & Dessein (2005).